I remember the feeling of anxiety as waited on the Xbox 360 to hit shelves. It was such a great time. I checked IGN and Gamespot every hour for updates. Heck, I even remember the anticipation of the Dreamcast. All these years later, with all the advances in technology, one would think that we'd all be salivating over what's to come--not the case. I'm actually considering cancelling my pre order, mainly because NOTHING is blowing me away. I'm shocked by my sentiment. I'll continue to wait, but the anxiety is non-existent. I really hope the XB1 or the PS4 show me something mind blowing. I doubt they will.

I would have like to have seen more gameplay from all nextgen sports titles (and next gen titles in genera). But I'm not sure if that means we should have seen it. It seems like all of the developers are playing things close to the vest in regard to next gen releases. I would guess primary because fans are expecting to see games that are vastly ground breaking and different from the current gen counter parts. IMO those expectations are just not obtainable for next month. Whether it's sports games or other games developers are touting "lighting", "depth of graphics" and the "density of the world" that next gen allows them to create. At this point in terms of gameplay the develops aren't able or didn't care to tap into the the power these systems hold right away. Most games are going to have graphical enhancements and a few tweaks here and there. That alone is not going to "wow" fans who want to see breakthroughs.

The days of the old-school preview are gone. Gamers have been burned so many times with "down-your-throat" previews which paint a game in such a favorable light, that people get upset when it doesn't match the initial reveal. (Aliens from earlier this year is a great example).

Why should publishers show so much of a game when it's going to be criticized by the masses? Movies, TV shows and other forms of media don't have to give us a large sample before they are made publicly available, why do games have to serve the same purpose?

I like the fact that all game developers, with the exception of UbiSoft, are pulling back and only releasing small snippets. I bet if you compare the number of articles OS wrote on '13 products and compared it to the number of articles writin on '14, you will notice that there were less.

I hope both 2K and EAS continue to release few details regarding a game, I want to be surprised when I start playing. I don't to have high expectations and be disappointed. Yes, someone like Pasta Padre will lose readers, it might actually force sports-game-bloggers to actually go out and write rather than report.

@ShavarHates; I feel you. And I think it goes beyond just the developers. Microsoft and Sony aren't trying to build hype and hysteria, that was the Xbox360 and PS3 release. They have come out and said that their goal is for holiday shoppers to walk into their local electronic store and be able to buy a system right off of the shelf. We'll see if that's going to happen. but things like availability kill that thirst and anxiety.

Every picture or trailer is over analyzed. Fans and Non-fans overreact. Some even make their purchasing decision based on 1 picture when they see an accessory on the player incorrectly. And I don't think that the titles being released really need a big marketing plan to get their customers. I mean if EA ever releases this true step video. Regardless of if it's good or bad. how many sales are they really gaining or losing from it? Same with NBA2k and Fifa. The FPS shooters have a bit of a head2head battle going and Live has alot of prove but most of the other titles are going to get the same buyers if the release videos and pictures or not.

I think the Developers take on it is that negative criticism will hurt their launch day a lot more than no criticism at all.

I'm still skeptical about these next-gen games. I will buy a PS4, but definitely, not at launch. The only game announced that i really want to play, is The Division. I still want to see what EA will do with Mirror's Edge. But for sports games, i don't see, now, any logic to buy a new console. IMO, next-gen sports games will only make a significantly leap in 2016.

significant*

If the Show blows my socks off in the Spring then I will buy a PS4. If not then I will probably wait and see. I told myself not to buy a PS3 just for the show last year but I am not waiting this time around as long as the game is as good as the Show 13 with better graphics. Who knows maybe by then I will have more info on XBOX one and decide thats the way I want to go but I am heavily leaning PS4. No College football and no baseball game is not the way I wanted to started next gen so I may just stick with my 360 for another year until the clouds clear.

I'm right there with you. I cancelled my Madden pre-order because I just have too many unanswered questions. Some of these games are going to be on store shelves in three weeks and we know almost nothing about them. For me, the result is I need to be wowwed now because I'm more likely to skip purchases this year.

I pre-ordered a PS4. However, I am not excited because of the lack of info.
It seems like the PS3 and XBox 360 consoles improved to do things like download music,videos,games etc. so they can get more money from us. As far as sports games are concerned, they look better, but play worse.
I'm still looking for a current gen Madden game that contains the same features and gameplay as Madden 2005. How is it that in the year 2013, we don't have an improved game 8 years later? We're the suckers that keep spending $60.00 every year chasing a dream that never happened. I can only hope that we get improved games this time and not just a new console with features and capabilities that we really don't need.

At this point, all I care about is NBA 2k14. From the little snippet that I saw, the gameplay and graphics will be amazing. No matter if we see another trailer, I almost have to buy Madden because there is no other choice. I think that we just need to be patient as both sides (EA and 2k) said that we will see gameplay within the next week or two.
This day and age is different. The instant that gameplay video is available, it will spread like wildfire. I think they can even start releasing gameplay videos in early November and people will still buy the consoles / games in droves. I dont understand how people are saying they are not wowwed by any next gen offerings...like did you not see the 2k video? That TV spot trailer had this whole forum ablaze with wow and it was prob like 30 seconds long. Did you not see any e3 videos for any games like Destiny or Titanfall? I was floored by both. Next gen is going to be glorious.

I'm waiting on MLB The Show. I know they wont let us down

I started an article once that talked about how we as gamers should probably hold our excitement until 2015 when it came to next-gen games, especially sports ones. That was more about development but the marketing has been awful for most of my time being a gamer. The best marketing has usually come from the community themselves. Hell that Vince Carter Momentus video had me excited for months.

Back to the point, all of the companies screw up the marketing, you'll be more upset with the companies that produce the games you like (2K i'm looking at you) The Show honestly of all the games does the most with the time they are given. Ronnie and LD will tweet and FB you to death just to leave you with a 2 second gameplay or a twitch feed with cameras placed more on them than the game. (I'm sure that isn't their fault but c'mon)

The games will speak to themselves it's more difficult to cover them for our audiences without being able to see or play things before launch and that does both groups a disservice.

I agree with this article.I feel like the marketing is really getting these games off to a poor start by creating bad sentiment in the customer base.

My thing is, I think that a lot of the games will look similar with minimal changes to them in the graphics area. So why show us that. What I really think the improvement will be is in the area of gameplay. I mean you can't look at Madden and think that the graphics need that much improvement. I mean there will be people that want to see every blade of grass bend and then stand again everytime someone takes a step on it, but I mean let's use some common sense. But what people don't realize is that there will still be the same amount of mo-cap and the same amount of animations s with the PS3/360. Ya, they will add more eventually, but what I really hope is that they use the extra power to increase AI skill and presentation, if we are talking sports games. I want my running back to actually read the blocking and make jusdgements based on what's going on on the field. I could care less that the grass should be stamped down and show wear by the 3rd quarter. Or, I want my teammates in NHL to for once know where they are supposed to be, but I also want them to follow the puck and make decisions based on that not just the Xs and Os like they do now. Too many times my CPU teammates run to cover the pass to the blueline when the shooter has the puck in the slot, or they are looking the wrong way. I want my teammates to be as smart as the CPU players.
These are all things that I think the NG of gaming consoles will do better, and to be honest, those are not hype producing items. What produces hype is the graphics, plain and simple, and if the graphics haven't changed much, which I don't really feel they need to, then why show videos. Sometimes not doing something is better than doing something and getting bad press. I mean look at the Madden and the video that was up then taken down. Had they not put the video up people would have said, "It's wierd we haven't seen anything," and the new system wouldn't have taken any heat. But they did and the reaction was "This looks the same so I won't buy the new system." You see my point?
Don't get me wrong, I would love to see some footage and such of games in NG, but I also am one that doesn't make judgements based on "prettiness".